Union Seminar: Cuba – Past, Present, and Future Relations with the United States

General Information

            It is a strategically located country. It is the largest West Indies Island.  It is larger than Austria, Belgium, and South Korea. It is located 90 miles from Key West, and 122 miles away from the continental United States. It is also located around 130 miles away from Mexico, via the Yucatan Channel."Cuba is the key of the Gulf of Mexico."

The Roots of the Historical Conflict

·         American interest to control Cuba: U.S. expansionism

o   :National Security"

o   Geopolitical Considerations

o   American values, Manifest Destiny

·         Cuba desires to be independent from Spain and the United States interests (Jose Marti)

·         In 1809, President Thomas Jefferson wrote to his successor, James Monroe, that the United States should pursue Cuba and Canada.

·         In 1823, John Quincy Adams believed that Cuba was not capable of self-support, and it should look towards the United States for help and guidance.

·         In 1868, Cuba had a war of independence, which began on October 10^th. Carlos Manuel de Cespedes liberated the slaves, and invited to have them fight for Cuban independence. This was called the Great War, or the Ten Years' War, which was from 1868 until 1878. There was also a Little War from 1879 until 1880.

·         The 'War of Independence' was from 1895 until 1898. Jose Marti died May 19, 1895 and Antonio Maceo died December 7, 1896.

The New Conflict: Post 1895 War of Independence

·         In 1898, The United States intervened with the Cuban War of Independence against Spain (aka the Spanish American War)

·         In 1902, the United States held its first military occupation in Cuba.

·         The Platt Amendment was imposed upon the Cuban Constitution in 1901 as a tool of dominance (Guantanamo Base)

·         From 1906 until 1909, the United States had a second military occupation, in order to protect American security interests.

The End of Neo-Colonialism

·         The triumph of the revolution occurred in 1959.

·         This began the ending of the patterns of dominance that Cuba has been seeing. It led to the gradual elimination of all instruments that would otherwise destroy the new government.

·         The defeat of the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred in 1961.

o   It was prepared and financed by the CIA and United States government.

o   It was a Mongoose Plan, which was to prepare a direct intervention

·         In 1962, the October Crisis, or Cuban Missile Crisis, occurred.

·         From 1963 until 1989, Cuba was inserted in the East and West conflict, from the outcome of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Stages of conflict after the Cold War end (not for Cuba)

·         In 1989, or some may say 1991, it was the end of the Cold War

o   Favorable change in international balance force to the United States

o   External shock, deep economic crisis: Cuban socioeconomic system adjusts to new international conditions, a very painful process, the so called the "Special Period".

·         In 1992, the Torricelli Act was put into place. It is not the "embargo" (blockade)

o   Elimination of indirect trade with the United States subsidiaries in other countries

o   Sanctions for ships that reach Cuban ports; not allowed entry into American ports for 180 days

·         In 1996, the Helms Burton Act was put into place.

o   Institutionalization of blockade

o   Sanctions focus on foreign investment in Cuba

 

Potential Impact of Lifting Sanctions on US/Cuba Economic Relations

·         Tourism

o   It will greatly increase, at least within the first few years of the sanction being lifted, by millions of people.

·         Agriculture

·         United States trade with Cuba

o   Thirty United States and foreign entities were hit with around $244.6 billion in fines due to their interactions with Cuba.

o   Direct economic damages caused the Cuban people by the implementation of the blockade by the United States against Cuba up until December 2013, at current prices, and based on very conservative estimates, amounts to more than 112.6 trillion United States dollars.

·         Jobs creation in the United States

o   In 2008, around 700 million dollars was sent from the United States to Cuba.

My Amazon Experience: Day 1

     On my third day in Rio de Janeiro, I was scheduled to leave the ship around 5:30 to go to the airport. I went with a group of Semester at Sea students on this trip, and we flew from Rio de Janeiro to Manaus, Brazil. Manaus is the fifth most important city in Brazil, and it is also hosting some of the World Cup Games. Manaus is located on the Rio Negro, which is the largest tributary off of the Amazon River, which is technically the largest river in the world, at least by volume.

     Once we arrived in Manaus, we headed to our riverboat to sleep for the night, because we arrived around two in the morning. When we got on the boat, we all went to the second deck and chose hammocks to sleep on for the next two evenings. It was very difficult to get comfortable enough to sleep in the hammock, so I did not sleep very well my first night. I woke up around six in the morning to watch the sun rise, which was absolutely beautiful to watch over the Rio Negro.
 

     We all ate breakfast around eight, and then sailed to the meeting of the waters, which is where the Rio Negro and the Amazon River meet. The rivers have a very different density, so the water never integrates; when you look at the water, it is a line between the two bodies of water. One of the bodies of water is the color of coke, and the other looks similar to chocolate milk. It was really amazing to see two massive rivers meet, but not have the waters mix. We had a nice little treat, and saw some of the pink river dolphins jumping around our boat.

     After we saw the meeting of the waters, we sailed to a spot in the jungle where we could see some of the very large water lilies. In order to get there, we took a wooden path through the jungle. On the way down the path, we ran into some capuchin monkeys! On one of the water lilies, there sat a cayman who was looking at the fish in the water to decide which to eat as a meal.

     When we left the forest after observing the water lilies, we took small boats to go piranha fishing. Piranha are a misunderstood species of fish, commonly thought of as eating machines. Although piranhas will create a feeding frenzy when one fish starts to eat, they do not eat everything in sight. However, they have an extremely strong bite, which does pose them as a danger. While we were fishing, several people in my boat actually caught a piranha! Some people caught white-bellied piranha, while others caught red-bellied piranhas, which are the more dangerous species. I caught a baby catfish. In order to kill one of the piranha that someone caught so that we could eat it for dinner, our guide bit off a chunk of the spinal cord; it was very intense!

     After this exciting excursion, we traveled to the location where we would go swimming with the river dolphins. We separated into three groups, and one group would go in with the dolphins at a time. The trainer in the water would hold fish for the dolphins, and we would pet them as they came along.They felt very rubbery! After swimming with the dolphins, we fished for a red fish, which is very large and strong! After this, we went cayman spotting. Our tour guide caught a small cayman at first, and then caught a slightly larger one. He almost caught one that was 4 meters in length; when it swam away, it rocked our ship! It was very large. After cayman spotting, we went to a private beach and met with the other SAS Amazon trips for a BBQ. After dinner, we played tug-of-war, musical chairs, and danced. It was really fun.

 

Hang Gliding in Rio de Janeiro

     On my first day in Rio de Janeiro, Alaine and I had booked a trip to go hang gliding. The company was going to pick us up from the ship, and take us to the location where we would be doing the glide. Although our pick up time was noon, the company never showed up. We talked to one of the men in charge at the port, and he personally knew the man in charge of the hang gliding company. He called the man in charge, and drove us to the tour company himself.

     Once we arrived at the hand gliding location, we registered our information and agreed to the conditions of gliding. After this, we traveled with our instructors to the top of the mountain that we would be going off of. Once we got to the top of the mountain, we watched a video preparing us to run off of the mountain properly. Then, I met with just my instructor and got on my harness. We both attached to the apparatus, and he told me that we will need to run the same speed off of the platform. We did a few practice runs, and then he asked me if  was ready; I took a deep breath, counted to three, and said that I was ready. He counted down and we ran off of the platform into the air. The apparatus automatically adjusted for us to lay down, and we glided down the mountain for a little more than ten minutes. My favorite part was looking at the water and flying with birds.

                                                

Fun Facts About Brazil!

· The country motto is “order and progress.”

· It is the fifth largest country in the world, and the largest country in both South and Latin America.

· The land was colonized by the Portuguese, although many tribes lived there prior to this.

· Brazil gained independence in 1822.

· There are over 201 million citizens.

· Their currency is the Brazilian Real.

· The name of the country came from the Brazilwood found in the area and in Portugal.

· It takes up approximately 47% of South America.

· It is the only country in the world that has the equator and land outside tropic regions as well.

· It has the second largest river in the world, the Amazon.

· The Amazon has the world’s largest biodiversity in the world!

· Brazil has 26 states.

· Brazil’s focuses mainly on ecotourism, especially revolving around the beautiful beaches, Iguassu Falls, and the Amazon.

· There is an almost equal distribution between white and multiracial people.

· 67% of people are Catholic.

· Feijoada is the national dish.

· Rice, beans, beef, and salad are very commonly used in meals.

· Futbol (soccer) is the most popular sport in the country. Brazil has one of the best teams in the world.

· Brazil is hosting the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics.

· The Copacabana beach area is very famous for paddle boarding.

· ATMs close at 10pm for security reasons.

· Brazil is the world’s second most ATM frauded country .

· It is legal to go through a red light, which is very common at night time. If you are a pedestrian, be very careful! Cars and motorcycles do whip out very fast.

· 89% of the population of Salvador, Brazil is of African descent. This city has the largest African population outside of the continent of Africa.

· Brazil is home to the Amazon rainforest, which houses more than 1/3 of all species known on planet Earth!